American Music Legend Honors His Friend and Fellow Country Icon with Fresh Interpretation of 12 Classic Songs Ray Price Made Famous!

On his new tribute album, Willie Nelson has teamed up with a pair of longtime friends – producer Fred Foster and conductor/arranger Bergen White – who, like Nelson, are American country music veterans with deep connections to the legendary Ray Price. Foster and White worked together to complete Ray Price’s final album, Beauty Is…, at Nashville’s Ocean Way Studios, where Willie has returned to create the magic of For The Good Times: A Tribute To Ray Price.

For The Good Times: A Tribute To Ray Price celebrates the wide-reaching impact and influence of Ray Price on American pop and country music, from Price’s hallmark lush orchestral arrangements (presaging “countrypolitan”) to the patented “Ray Price Shuffle,” the groundbreaking 4/4 walking bass line which transformed honky-tonk and country-western swing music in 1950s on hits like “Crazy Arms.”

Providing musical backup for Willie on six of the album’s tracks – “Invitation To The Blues,” “Heartaches By The Numbers,” “Crazy Arms,” “City Lights,” “I’ll Be There” and “Don’t You Ever Get Tired Of Hurting Me” – Willie is joined by The Time Jumpers, the Grammy-nominated Western Swing dream team comprised of Vince Gill (electric and acoustic guitar, harmony vocals), Andy Reiss (electric guitar), Larry Franklin (fiddle), Joe Spivey (fiddle), Kenny Sears (fiddle), Brad Albin (bass), Billy Thomas (drums), Jeff Taylor (piano and accordion), Paul Franklin (pedal steel) and Willie’s Family Band harmonica player Mickey Raphael. For the orchestral tracks on For The Good Times: A Tribute To Ray Price, the Nashville String Machine, a full ensemble featuring violins, violas, cellos, string basses, sax, flute and oboe, accompanies Willie.

Friends from their first meeting until Ray Price’s passing in 2013, Willie and Ray shared a profound musical bond, exemplified in Price’s hit recordings of Willie-penned songs like the career-defining “Night Life” and “It Always Will Be.” For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price debuts Willie’s new interpretations of 12 songs Price made famous, including “Heartaches by the Number,” “Crazy Arms,” “Night Life,” “Faded Love” and “For the Good Times.”